Oman welcomes world’s first liquified hydrogen vessel

MUSCAT, August 18, 2023 – Oman has received the world’s first liquified hydrogen vessel Suiso Frontier at Sultan Qaboos Port in Muscat, state-owned Oman News Agency announced on Wednesday.

The visit is part of the tanker’s tour of the Middle East.

The 8,000-tonne ship has the capacity to carry up to 1,250 cubic metres of cargo. It was built in 2020 by Japanese engineering company Kawasaki Heavy Industries at the cost of USD 359 million and is operated by Shell Japan.

The ship is considered an experimental station and a significant milestone in maritime hydrogen technology.

The ship was met by delegates including Salem Al Aufi, Oman’s Minister of Energy and Minerals; Firas Al Abduwani, director general of renewable energy and hydrogen at Oman’s Ministry of Energy and Minerals; Walid Hadi, senior vice-president and country chair of Oman Shell; and Abdulaziz Al Shidhani, managing director of Hydrogen Oman.

Japan and Oman inked an MoU in late December 2022 that began in January 2023 to co-operate in the field of energy, particularly in the field of hydrogen, fuel ammonia and carbon recycling.

Oman has set a goal to produce more than 1 million tonnes of hydrogen by 2030 and 8 million tonnes by 2050.

According to Oman News Agency, the country has signed several projects that aim to produce 750,000 tonnes of green hydrogen with investments of USD 30 billion in the initial bidding phase.

“As of today, most hydrogen worldwide is produced from natural gas, in a form of what is called grey hydrogen,” Hadi told TEY.

“If the world is to track a credible energy transition journey, we will need low-carbon hydrogen to start playing a bigger role in the global energy systems, particularly in what is described as hard to abate sectors.”

Read our full interview with Walid Hadi, senior vice-president and country chair of Oman Shell, here.

“The biggest challenge for hydrogen is the global disconnection between supply and demand,” Shidhani told TEY.

“To make hydrogen work, developers need to have a captive demand and consistent clients they can send hydrogen and its derivatives to.”

Read our full interview with Abdulaziz Al Shidhani, managing director of Hydrogen Oman, here.

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